Film 2Oh!! is an attempt to write about every film I have seen this year which is really quite tricky. This year I have seen 124 films, written about 25. Its tricky. So lets try and mop a few up with some thoughts on some films I have seen lately.
26: Senna (cinema)
Remarkable how cinematic a documentary made completely from grainy TV footage can be. Remarkable how much the non-stop historical cigarette advertising throughout the film made me want a gasper. Particularly Rothmans, the Williams and my Dad’s formula one cigarette of choice. I remember one Christmas at family gathering racing a packer of John Player Special against a pack of Rothmans on the dining table as we “played” Formula 1. And being mighty disappointed that no-one in the family smoked Marlboro’s.
27. Julia’s Eyes (cinema)
Dear the makers of Julia’s Eyes. I can understand why thematically it may make sense in a film about someone losing her sight, you may want to mirror her failing eyesight with dull fading cinematography. I understand it, but it is as bad an idea as associating “unremarkable” with “invisible”.
28. Soylent Green (DVD)
I used to quite admire Chuck Heston for making these high concept sci-fi films in the seventies. And then I saw them. Soylent Green raises a lot more questions than it answers, unfortunately most of them are about its plotholes. But the key questions I came away with were
a) In a city defined by overcrowding, why are the streets so empty at night
b) dustbin lorry technology never improves
c) I am assuming Soylent Orange is cats and Soylent Yellow was a hilarious racist joke in the early 70’s.
29. 127 Hours (Cinema)
I must admit, whilst I am unsure if I could saw my own arm off to save my life, it I were in the situation described by the film, I WOULDN’T WAIT 127 HOURS TO DO IT. He is well aware his arm is “dead” by about hour 12. If he was really an awesome survivalist, he would have chopped it off while he still had adequate water and strength to survive. Say about 28 hours I’d say. And then Danny Boyle could have called it 28 HOURS LATER. And got the zombie* crowd in.
30. Daddy Long-Legs (DVD)
I don’t think there is ever a time when Fred Astaire doesn’t look considerably older than his female co-stars, or put across a slightly creepy air, but even if that wasn’t the case in Daddy Long-Legs, the plot would handle it nicely. Its all well and good that Leslie Caron is playing 18 when Fred Astaire become her legal guardian / mystery benefactor / groomer from afar, but there still seems to be an abuse of a power relationship, 32 year age gap and – well have you seen the Sluefoot – the dance craze that never was? (I’m with the disgusted teenage boy).
Still Leslie Caron eh?
*YES THEY ARE FUCKING ZOMBIES.